


Last Christmas

by Sgt_Pepperony94



Series: New Memories, New Life [6]
Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Christmas, F/M, reflections
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-06
Updated: 2015-12-06
Packaged: 2018-05-05 07:59:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5367473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sgt_Pepperony94/pseuds/Sgt_Pepperony94
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On their first Christmas Eve, Alec and Ellie reflect on the previous Christmas where they weren't together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Last Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nannyogg123](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nannyogg123/gifts).



> Title: Last Christmas  
> Author: Sgt. Pepperony  
> Fandom: Broadchurch  
> Rating: T  
> Pairing: Alec/Ellie (established)  
> Disclaimer: As far as I am aware, I do not own Broadchurch or the characters. All property belongs to Chris Chibnall. OCs are mine.  
> Happy Christmas everyone. This is the first of my gifts, this one to Nannyogg so she can satisfy her angsty melodramatic heart.

It would be the first Christmas that Alec and Daisy would be spending with Ellie, Tom and Fred. Compared to last year, this Christmas seemed more optimistic. For one, both Ellie and Alec had their kids back. The other was that they had become a couple so they weren't just two people wallowing in self-pity because of a betrayal made by the person they thought they trusted the most. Still Christmas Eve arrived and they both could not help but reflect on last Christmas. Ellie had been forced into spending Christmas with Lucy while Alec had been lumbered in hospital with a chest infection. 

On the drive down to Ellie's, Alec thought back a year before. 

_"Sir, for god's sake you have pneumonia and a bad heart. Can you stay in hospital so we can treat you?" the cardiologist snapped when Alec tried to escape from his bed, yet again._

_"What's the point?" Alec grumbled._

_"Your heart is weak enough and the pneumonia is only making it worse. I'm sorry, Alec, but you won't make it until the new year if you refuse the antibiotics." Alec sighed and lay back on the bed and pulled the oxygen mask back over his head. "Good. Now is there any family you want us to call?"_

_"No point. Daughter hates me and I'm not married anymore."_

_"What about a sibling?"_

_Alec sighed deeper this time, "Sister but she is all the way in Scotland."_

_"Do you think it might help if we gave her a call just to let her know you're here?"_

_"Do what you must. It's in my phone. Only one Jane in there." They take his phone and soon the effects of the antibiotics and the fatigue take hold of him. When he wakes, coughing due to the mucus on his lungs, he is confronted by his sister, who was the last person he expected. "Jane?"_

_"You look terrible."_

_"What are you doing here?"_

_"Well, your doctor called me and as soon as he said you suffered a heart attack three months back and now you have a chest infection I got the next flight to Heathrow. I've been here all night."_

_"It's not that bad."_

_"Alec, you're as white as a sheet, shivering and you’re so skinny it's actually frightening. What happened?"_

_"It's PCCD. The same thing Mum had."_

_"And you have known about this..."_

_"I've had it since my appendix ruptured. I had it under control with medication but since Sandbrook it's gotten worse."_

_"Do Tess and Daisy know?"_

_"Tess knew I was on medication but I haven't spoken to her since... Since I left. Daisy refuses to speak to me."_

_"Have you tried?"_

_"Of course I have. I try but all I get is her voicemail."_

_"She's going to have to answer your calls eventually."_

_"I don't know. She was incredibly angry when I left."_

_"Come on. She's fifteen and you are a star in her eyes."_

_"Were."_

_Jane sighed and decided to retire the conversation for now, instead talking about more topical issues, "So what are they going to do about your heart?"_

_"They want to put a pacemaker in, but they don't know if I will survive the surgery. My heart is battered badly so it could just give out half way through. If I don’t get it then I am not going to live pass June."_

_"Jesus Christ."_

_"Yeah."_

_"So you're going to get it?"_

_"I don't know."_

_"Alec-"_

_"I could die either way Jane."_

_"Alec, you have a daughter to think about here. I think she would rather you tried to fight this rather than just allow it to happen."_

_"You know her first Christmas was in hospital. She had a heart problem as well but that's because she was early. I didn't think I would see her again. She means the world to me."_

_"Then don't let her give up on you. Fight to live." Alec just turned his head away. Jane decided that, even if it wasn't her place, she needed to intervene. She stepped out the room for a moment while Alec wondered what she had planned. He had a fear that it was to their father to knock some sense into him but even Jane would not risk opening that can of worms. "Someone wants to speak to you."_

_Alec took the phone in confusion and put it to his ear, "Hello?"_

_"Dad?" The mere word and the sound of her voice caused his heart to elevate and Jane wondered whether this was overstimulating him. "Is that you?"_

_"Of course it is Darlin'. I'm just so happy to hear your voice. I miss you so much."_

_"Me too."_

_He could hear the sob in her throat and Alec's own eyes began to well._

_"Oh Daisy, what is it?"_

_"I'm scared this is the last time we talk."_

_"Shush, don't worry. I'm in hospital so the doctors will fix me up."_

_"I love you Dad. Just don't forget that okay."_

_"I love you too. So what are you up to for Christmas?"_

_"Stuck at Mum's tosser of a boyfriend's family. I hate him. Tries too hard and has greasy hair."_

_"Right."_

_"I wish I could come to you."_

_"I'm not sure you'd enjoy being on the ward. Next Christmas, you and I will have something planned together okay?"_

_"Okay. I love you Daddy."_

_"Now who's getting all soppy eh? I love you too and I will speak to you as soon as I am out of hospital."_

He did call her but even when they first met after so long it still was a little frosty on Daisy's end though Alec eventually found out why: she had known about the affair for as long as Alec had but one drunken stumble off a wall and an argument later, Tess relented and let Daisy stay with her father full time. 

Right now she was sitting in the passenger seat, healed and bright. She had been thrilled when Alec told her he was with Ellie and she got on really well with Tom and Fred so she was going to be happy this Christmas. 

-o-

At the Brant's (née Miller since Ellie's decree absolute came through a couple weeks prior), Ellie was keeping a look out for Alec and Daisy. Her thoughts casually went back to last year as well when she heard Tom asking where all the mince pies were. Last year he did not even speak to her since he still didn't believe Joe was a killer. 

_Lucy can't cook but Ellie tried to salvage a bit of her Christmas dinner. She wasn't even hungry anyway. Tom had dared not looked him in the eye or spoke to her, save a thanks for the gift she'd gotten. Lucy and Olly tried to fill the awkward silence but it wasn't helping._

_Ellie had decided she'd had enough and took her plate to the kitchen and went to sit outside in the garden. It was freezing and she could see her breath in the air._

_She sobbed. As much as she could try, she couldn't hold it together for one day. If she had Tom on her side then maybe but he hated her. The whole town did. They were right to. She was the copper who didn't know she had been sleeping next to a killer the whole time. She felt humiliated and worthless._

_"Right, thought I'd better bring this monstrosity out before you catch your death," Lucy said laying the orange jacket over her sister. "Sorry El."_

_"What for?"_

_"For dragging you into this. I told Tom to be civil but I forgot boys at his age are about as obedient as a mad cow."_

_"It's fine Luce. I get it. He's lost his father and he's confused. He has a right to be angry."_

_"He'll come round. When Joe pleads guilty, he'll realise everyone is telling the truth."_

_"I hope."_

_"You know if Mum were here she'd knock some sense into him."_

_"I can imagine." Ellie sighed. "It's just hard. It's hard being the woman whose husband is the town killer."_

_"El, it's not your fault. You didn't think."_

_"I should have. He even joked that if he was a suspect or not. How fucking twisted is that?"_

_"It's incredibly twisted, but you don't think about these things. No one would have thought it was him, least of all you."_

_It didn't make Ellie feel better or reassure her competence as a detective. So much for the promotion she had wanted. She will never find the confidence to walk back into that station though her colleagues seemed to be more sympathetic than anyone in the town. Well, there were the odd whispers from people she barely knew. Everyone but Beth seemed to be coming around._

_Lucy should really say that Mark had asked if Ellie was okay when he popped in to see Maggie. Also, Maggie had refused to throw Ellie under the bus the same way Karen White had done with Alec Hardy. Paul Coates had offered counsel and Becca always asked Olly how everyone was holding up. Lucy doubted it would make Ellie feel better because Beth was the one that hit the hardest._

_"I can't bloody stay here no more Luce. I'm moving to Devon."_

_"No you're fucking not."_

_"I am. I applied for a PC post."_

_"So all those years of hard graft and you're going back where you started?"_

_"It's what I deserve. Can't take myself seriously as a detective if I can't even see a killer in the same bed as me. It’s my penance."_

_"What about Tom?"_

_"He's better off here. Fred'll come with me." She rubbed her eyes. "What am I going to tell Fred when he starts asking where his dad is?"_

_"Maybe by next Christmas you'll be with someone else and he'll that guy dad soon enough."_

_“Who would want to marry the woman who was married to a killer?”_

_“Oh come on Ellie. You can’t let this define you. You’re a brilliant mother, gorgeous, sweet, and any man would be lucky to have you.”_

_“So why the fuck did Joe fall in love with an eleven year old boy?”_

_Lucy didn’t know how to answer that. No one could. Not even Joe himself knew. Lucy turned to look at the back door and saw Tom standing, as though he wanted to come out and speak to Ellie. Lucy tried to plead with her eyes for him to talk to his mother but he shook his head and walked away._

_“Think of it this way then El. Joe’s sitting alone while he eats pre-packaged Christmas meals. You have me. I know I’m not Tom but it’s the best we have to do until all this shit is over. I would happily kill him for you, I love you that much. You’re my baby sister and I need to start acting like a grownup. Which is why I am kicking the gambling.”_

_“You say this every year.”_

_“I mean it. I was wrong to ask you for money in exchange for information, I should have told you the truth because you deserve better.” Ellie mustered up some form of smile and rested her head on Lucy’s shoulder. “And you know that guy I was telling you about. He’s going to love you no matter what.”_

Ellie had to admit her sister did have the odd moment of wisdom. She was with a new man that loved her no matter what though Fred had not started calling Alec 'dad' yet. It was still a new thing, and while Alec treated her boys like he treated Daisy, it could be a long time before anything legal could come about. 

-o-

The door knocked and Ellie immediately went to get it. It was bitterly cold so Ellie immediately let them in so Alec and Daisy didn't freeze to death. Ellie smiled and pecked his lips softly as Daisy went to see the boys. 

"So what is the plan?" he asked. 

"Well, we usually do head up to the church for the Christmas Eve service but it's up to you." 

"I'm not usually someone who argues with tradition." 

"Well we're heading up there as soon as we wrestle Fred into his jacket."

It took a good five minutes before Fred got into his jacket on and within half hour, they were in the church, singing along to Silent Night. Ellie gripped Alec's hand gently through the service. She noticed the semblance of a smile on his face. She smiled softly when he snuck a peak. 

Fred was conked out and drooling on Alec's shoulder when they came out. Alec looked like he was struggling a bit with the weight but wasn't complaining. 

"You okay?" Ellie asked taking his hand. 

"Yeah, just thinking back to last year. Being stuck in that hospital." 

"Well could have been at my sister's with a child who didn't want to speak to you." They were both silent for a moment before Ellie said, "You know what, sod last Christmas. It's not worth it now we have them back and we're together. I love you and I want a very happy future with you." 

"Me too." Alec drew her to a halt and kissed her. "I love you." 

Ellie kissed him again, not caring about who sees. It was not a secret they were together so why anyone would care was beyond Ellie's imagination. 

"Mum, quit being mushy, it's freezing," Tom called.

"Finish this in bed?" Alec asked. 

"Can do." 

They did finish it in bed, and they breathed heavily as Ellie rolled onto her side of the bed. Alec looked at her with a smile filled with gratitude. Ellie smiled back and shuffled closer to him. He kissed her head and Ellie, stroking the pink scar on his collarbone, kissed the skin covering his heart. 


End file.
